


"Punk." "Jerk."

by MagnificentBane



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Avengers - Freeform, Captain America - Freeform, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Stucky - Freeform, fluff in later chapters, steve rogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnificentBane/pseuds/MagnificentBane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Hogwarts au where Bucky and Steve hate each other, they argue and constantly get into fights. However, Bucky can't stop thinking about Steve, and when they get detention for a week together they slowly become friends, but they keep up the arguing in public just for the laughs. But during the time at Hogwarts their relationship turns into something else that they refuse to show their friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shut up, Stark.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to stay in my "will-never-publish" folder, but I really liked the idea of this fanfic, so why not publish it anyway, right? The summary kind of spoils the upcoming chapters, but meh.
> 
> I will hopefully (hopefully, but let's face it, i suck at updating anything) publish a new chapter once a week, so please read & review!

Steve was just about to sit down at the Hufflepuff table when he heard Bucky's voice calling his name. He sighed and turned around, looking at Bucky with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you want Bucky?” Steve said with a slightly annoyed voice.

 _“What do you want Bucky??”_ Bucky imitated with an even more annoying voice. His friends laughed and continued to walk with him towards the Gryffindor table. Steve sat down with the Hufflepuffs and met Bruce's glance and chuckled.

“What does he even want from you?” Bruce said as he began to eat his sandwich. Steve shrugged and thought back to all the times that they've been in a fight.They had never really liked each other. It started on the Hogwarts train when Bucky and Steve sat in the same coupé. Bucky kept on ranting about _how purebloods are real wizards_ and _how muggleborns shouldn't even be here_ , Steve got tired of him and snapped back with a rude comment, even though Steve never would want to be rude to anyone, but that guy needed to shut up. And then it had just been going on and on, every time they saw each other they began to complain and rant about each other. They had kept going and they never really stopped.

And now here Steve sat, in his fifth year at Hogwarts and still not friends with Bucky. As a Hufflepuff, Steve wouldn't want to give the house a bad reputation by being mean towards the Gryffindor house, but he didn't have anything against the Gryffindors. He only had something against Bucky. He knew that Bucky might have problems at home or that he might have been bullied as a kid, but that was still not an excuse for being so mean towards muggleborns. Steve was a pureblood too, but he didn't care about what the other students were. Blood does not define how someone is as a person, _something that Bucky clearly doesn't understand,_ Steve thought for himself. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table and saw them all sit happily together, Tony with his arm around Pepper, Bucky laughing at something that Tony said while he shuffled bacon into his mouth.

“I really don't know, man” Steve answered Bruce and kept eating his breakfast.

 

Bucky made his way up the astronomy tower for his last class. The class was shared with the Gryffindors, so he had to _endure_ another lesson with Steve. _Ugh._ Bucky held his telescope tight against him as he walked up all the exhausting stairs. He was already late, and he would probably get detention, everything was so dark and the torches against the walls didn't help a bit. He opened the door quietly to the classroom and saw to his relief that all the students were staring into their telescopes while they scribbled down notes on a piece of parchment. Professor Sinistra raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about a detention, so he folded up his telescope and tried to focus on what they were supposed to do. Since he hadn't been there, he didn't know what to do, but those were the consequences of coming too late. He glanced over at Pepper's parchment and saw her notes written in a neat writing, "The star constellation Aries lays to the left of Pisces, it has five stars that connects with each other." And under that she had drawn a small drawing of the constellation.

 _Right_ , Bucky thought, every Wednesday they were supposed to study the night skies through their telescopes and learn the names of difficult stars and the movements of planets, and he really needed to get started by now if he at least would get an A or hopefully an E. He peeked through the telescope and looked at the beautiful dark sky with it's small details and galaxies that only could be seen through the telescope. He immediately found the star he was looking for and then found the three other stars that could be connected with it to create the right constellation. He grabbed his pen and began to write it down, while he drew a picture of the stars and tried to dig in his brain for everything he knew about the constellation before he went over to the next one. Bucky heard someone drop their pen and, as easily distracted as he was, he looked up and saw Steve clumsily bend down to get it.

 _“Idiot”_ Bucky whispered under his breath and catched Steve's eyes at that exact moment. Steve just chuckled and went back to his telescope. _Did he just smile?_ Bucky couldn't believe it. _Why would anyone.. smile because of that?_ Since when did _Idiot_ become a compliment? And even though Bucky tried to deny it, Steve's smile was utterly adorable. He quickly stopped thinking about it and kept writing and studying the stars, waiting for the lesson to end.

Steve fiddled with his pen while he searched for the right word to use to describe the pattern that the constellation went in, _Rectangular? Square..ish?_ He sighed and was almost about to drop his pen again. He decided to go with the word "Vertical" and looked up at the old clock at the wall, it had chimed midnight twenty minutes ago so there was only ten minutes left of the lesson, which Steve was very grateful for since he was exhausted from the long day.

"Eyes on the sky, Mr Rogers." Sinistra said as she saw Steve focusing on something else. Steve apologized and went back to his telescope as he heard Bucky let out a silent laugh, it was as quiet as a whisper. Steve glanced at the side and saw Bucky glancing right back at him too now and then while he pretended to peek through the telescope. Steve tried not to think about it even if it was quite distracting, and with some restraint to trying not to look back, he eventually made it through the last ten minutes as the clock chimed half past twelve.

“I want your papers done due Friday, at least one and a half feet long!” Professor Sinistra said as all the students already streamed out of the classroom. The voices grew louder and some people elbowed their way through just to get to the common rooms.

“Hey watch it, Rogers!” Bucky said as he pushed himself through the crowd of people. Steve simply stood pressed against the wall, waiting for the students to disappear so he could walk down to the Hufflepuff common room in peace.

That night Steve could barely sleep, even though it was past midnight and it was the middle of the term, so he would've been used to falling asleep immediately by now. He thought about Bucky, how he didn't like being mean towards him. But still, _it's Bucky who's mean towards him,_ not the other way around, so why did Steve even bother to care so much? Maybe it wasn't something that he'd said, maybe it just was the way he acted around Bucky. Steve had been called Idiot before, and hearing it from Bucky wasn't anything new, so he decided to just chuckle at him when he said it earlier that day, but was that the right thing to do? Couldn't he just ignore Bucky instead? All this thinking was driving Steve crazy, but it also made him tired, so after a few moments of wrestling around with his thoughts he fell asleep. The next day Bucky sat in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table, as usual, and ate his breakfast. He kept glancing over at Steve's table just to catch one of his stunning smiles again but tried to stop himself from staring.

“Bucky?” Tony said and waved with his hand in front of Bucky's face to get his attention. Bucky quickly returned his attention towards Tony and nodded.

“Yeah, sure.” he said, without knowing what he was supposed to answer. Tony grinned at Pepper and then turned around to see what Bucky was staring at.

“Ah, I see! Steve's hair really looks good today doesn't it?” Tony said and looked back at Bucky.

“What? Oh shut up, Stark.” Bucky sneered. Tony shrugged and continued eating.

But yes. Steve's hair really looks good today, Bucky thought and suddenly felt irritation build up inside him. He decided to leave the Great Hall and get his equipment for the next lesson, but when he was on his way out of the hall he bumped into someones shoulder.

“Damn, sorry” Bucky said quickly and kept walking out of the hall.

“No worries, I didn't look myself around” the other voice said. Only a few moments later he realized that he'd bumped into Steve's shoulder. He cursed silently for himself as he walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower.

 _Why does he always have to be so nice?_ Bucky wondered, as he said the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

 _And why does his hair always have to look so nice?_ Bucky rapidly gathered all his stuff and ended up arriving extra early at the _Defence Against the Dark Arts_ classroom. He sat down at his ordinary seat and heard footsteps. Finally the other students were coming, but he could only hear footsteps from one person. They were low and gentle, and became louder and louder as they came closer. Maybe it was Pepper who was looking for him, or the professor, but in through the door came Steve.

 _Perfect_ , Bucky thought and tried to not let out an irritated sigh.

“Hi, you dropped your wand.” Steve said and stretched forward his arm with Bucky's long, dark wand in his hand. Bucky stared quietly at him as he groped in his pockets after the wand. He gave up and quietly said

“Thanks.” He took his wand and looked at Steve with a raised eyebrow. There was an embarrassing tension between them for a few moments. Suddenly Steve straightened his back and began to talk.

“Hey, I don't want to keep going like this. I don't even know what we're doing anymore and I don't know why we're doing it.” Bucky was surprised that Steve had said that, since that probably would've been the last thing that he expected him to say. He could hear more footsteps outside the room growing louder.

“Listen, I don't know what you're talking about, get out of here Rogers, other people are coming.” Bucky said because he still was irritated and didn't know how to react to what Steve had said. Steve turned around and walked out of the door with a sigh, and a moment later a whole crowd of students entered the room.


	2. Shut up, Stark. I'm thinking.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm warning you, Peeves will be in this chapter and I just CAN'T write his character right.

“A Bowtruckle's twig-like fingers are well adapted for digging out wood lice in trees, and can also be used as a weapon against a foe when aimed at the eyes.” Hagrid said, holding up the creature made out of tree high up in the air so everyone could see it.

“It can be found in western England, southern Germany and in certain Scandinavian forests.” He continued, still holding the Bowtruckle in a tight grip.

Steve took notes on a piece of parchment, listening closely to what Hagrid said so he could get it down on the paper.

The Hufflepuff's sat outside of Hagrid's hut, it was afternoon and _Care of Magical Creatures_ was their last class for the day. It was already dark outside but the torches around the castle's walls lit everything up with their dim lights. Earlier that morning Steve had met Bucky in the _Defence Against the Dark Arts_ classroom. _._ Steve had tried to be calm afterwards, to not feel like he'd done something wrong. But the thing was that he hadn't done anything wrong at all, so why didn't Bucky like him? He could barely concentrate on the lessons, but he didn't know why. They hadn't been friends for a long time, so why was it so important all of a sudden? Suddenly Bruce nudged Steve in his shoulder and looked over towards the castle. Steve glanced at what he was looking at and saw Bucky stand alone, leaning against the wall, staring at them. Steve felt all his blood rush up to his head, he kept listening to what Hagrid said about the Bowtruckles but it was suddenly so much harder when he knew that Bucky was watching him.

Finally, Hagrid announced that the lesson was over. Steve stood up faster than everyone else and shuffled all his stuff down into his bag and hurried away from the others. He looked up at Bucky and saw that he was busy staring down at his wand, fiddling with it, not paying attention to Steve when he was coming.

“Hi.” Steve said, almost breathless.

“Hi.” Bucky answered sternly.

Steve didn't know what Bucky was supposed to say, or if he even came to talk to Steve, maybe he just wanted some fresh air? _God, I'm so stupid,_ Steve thought for himself. But he saw that Bucky was about to say something else, but his eyes were following the crowd of students that walked past them, waiting for them to disappear. Some of them looked at them as they passed by, some of them were engaged in conversations about the upcoming Quidditch game. Hagrid went into his cabin and Steve could see him through the window of the hut, taking care of the Bowtruckle.

“Listen Rogers, I didn't get to thank you properly this morning for my wand.” He continued when the other students were beyond earshot.

“Oh, don't worry 'bout it,” Steve said and was about to continue but stopped himself when he heard laughter. Not girl-laughter, but nor was it a manly laughter, it echoed and could probably have been heard from inside the castle.

“Peeves.” Bucky murmured and his face expression went from calm to terrified.

“Oh no it's Peeevees” the voice said again, cackling madly.

“We need to get out of here.” Bucky said and took Steve's hand, turning around, ready to run. Steve looked down at their hands and felt a tingling feeling spread through his arm, but ignored it and began to run.

“What are yoou doing heree?” Peeves echoed, suddenly standing a few meters in front of them. His voice sent shivers down Steve's spine, causing him to run even faster.

“Were you digging up Hagger's plants?” He said, disappearing and a second later appearing next to them, screeching with his loud voice.

“Or were you sneaking into the Quidditch pitch?” He shouted, so loudly that he probably would wake the Grindylows in the lake.

“But maybe you were about to enter the Forbidden Forest?” He said with a suspicious tone.

“Or maybe you were… _Snogging?_ ” He whispered into Steve's ear. Steve hated that word, it made it sound so sloppy and _weird._ Bucky gave out an irritated sigh and ran faster towards the castle.

“Go away Peeve-” Bucky said, but got interrupted by the sound of a door slammed open. Steve and Bucky were taken by surprise of the loud noise and understood that someone had seen them. They turned around and saw an angry Hagrid storm out of the hut. Peeves disappeared again and a moment later he stood in front of Hagrid, pointing at the Forbidden Forest.

 _No no no, this is not happening!_ Steve thought as Hagrid walked towards them with a red face.

“What were you doing in the forest!?” He said when he came close enough to see that judging by the panting and the redness in their cheeks, they probably would've been coming from the forest.

“We weren't-” Bucky began but Peeves showed up behind Hagrid, interrupting them.

“But Haagriid, can't you see the trail of footsteps leading towards the forest? Or Rogers' bag that's laying right over theere?” He said with a false high-pitched voice.

Bucky looked behind Hagrid's shoulder and saw Steve's bag laying right in front of the forest, he realized that Peeves had put it there. Hagrid turned around and saw the bag and then looked back at the two boys again.

“I am very disappointed, it's your fifth year here at Hogwarts and you _know_ that the forest is strictly off limits!” Hagrid said, as he almost couldn't believe that they had done it (which they _hadn't)._

“But professor, we never-” Steve tried to explain but Hagrid's face just turned more red with rage with every minute that passed.

“Detention. For one week starting tomorrow, meet me at my cabin after your last class.” He said and without further explanation he left, murmuring silently to himself about _Hufflepuff's_ _and Gryffindor's_ _nowadays._

 

That night Steve fell asleep as fast as he'd managed to walk up all those exhausting stairs to the Gryffindor dormitories. He had to answer all of Bruce's questions about what Bucky wanted, even though Bucky and Steve never really got to the point of the conversation to know what Bucky had to say back then, and he could barely look Hagrid in the eyes, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.

However, Bucky couldn't sleep at all that night, and it was for the most silliest reason ever. He'd just taken Steve's hand, without any hesitation, and Steve didn't even complain. His skin had felt soft, even though everything felt rushed in the moment back then. And now he would meet him _everyday_ this week. Suddenly he realized that he was thinking about _Rogers._ _What the hell!?_ Bucky thought and got annoyed, feeling disgusted with himself.

“Barnes. Go to sleep.” Tony murmured drowsily into his own pillow as he saw Bucky still laying in his bed, wide awake with his arms folded behind his head.

“Shut up, Stark. I'm thinking.” Bucky answered.

“Ah, did he propose?” Tony said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Ha ha.” Bucky was way to tired to react, and even though he was tired it didn't seem to be enough to make him fall asleep.

 

The next day the fifth year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had _History of Magic_ together, which meant two hours of listening to the professor talking about the _Giant wars_ non-stop. Everything was quiet in the classroom except for the professor's voice echoing through the room while he waved with his wand, trying to explain the structure of the goblin rebellions. Steve and Bucky kept managing to get eye contact and they kept glancing at each other, even if they tried to focus on the teacher. And of course, both Tony and Bruce realized.

The day went on, lessons passed and Steve and Bucky didn't meet again until after their last class. They both showed up in front of Hagrid's hut, they didn't talk to each other, probably because of the fact that they had other stuff to do than going to a detention that they hadn't done anything for to deserve.

“Alright lads, c'mon over here..” Hagrid said as he showed up in front of his cabin, carrying a barrel of slimy goo in it. He walked away towards the Forbidden Forest. Steve and Bucky just stood there for a moment until Hagrid said “Get a move on! Don't be afraid!”

Finally Hagrid stopped right in front of the forest and put the barrel down in front of two giant stone blocks.

“Now, look at what I'm doing,” He began as he sat down on one of the stone blocks.

“Look closely, see, you take one of the Flobberworms like this” he picked a thick worm out of the barrel, making his fingers sticky with the slime, “Now, Flobberworms don't have teeth, so they won't bite! You simply hold it like this, and _squeeze it,_ and then you collect the mucus in this jar,” he took up a jar and showed them how the worm's green slime slowly dripped down into it and gathered in the bottom. “Mucus is a great sticky substance that yer can use to thicken potions with, get it?” Hagrid finished and threw the worm away into the forest.

“And don't worry, we won't be need'n them until next year, so yer can throw it away when yer done.”

By the time that Hagrid was finished, Steve was nauseated and even though they hadn't began he couldn't wait until they were finished. Hagrid left them and walked back to his hut, leaving them completely alone, they wouldn't even be seen from the castle from here. They sat down on each stone block, and pushed up their sleeves to their elbows. They were both quiet at first, but when Steve groped in the barrel after a worm, he couldn't help but letting out a disgusted grunt.

“Ugh, the smell is unbearable.” he said and saw Bucky nodding while he had his mouth half open, avoiding breathing through the nose.

“God, it's disgusting!” Bucky said as he took a grip of one of the sticky slugs and held it above the jar. He did as Hagrid said and then threw it away, looking at his hands, trying not to take in the smell. Steve struggled with his worm as it kept sliding out of his hands.

“Here, let me help you.” Bucky said and leaned forward to pick up Steve's worm. He then gave it to Steve who still was surprised by the fact that Bucky had offered him help. They kept going on like that for a while, giving comment's about the worms and throwing them into the forest. And after a few worms it turned into a throwing-competition. At first Bucky managed to hit a tree with his worm, causing them both to laugh. But after a moment they realized that they were both laughing at each other, which none of them thought that they ever would be doing.

“Alright Rogers, your turn.” Bucky said and motioned towards the barrel. Steve picked a thick worm that he squeezed above the jar and then threw it, it flew five metres and then plunged into a tree with a loud _thump._

“Well, it was better than mine at least.” Bucky laughed and took another worm that immediately slipped out of his hand and back into the barrel. He made a face towards the worm which caused Steve to chuckle. Bucky met his eyes and gave him a handsome smile that Steve never had seen before. Bucky was such a different person when he was alone with Steve, or maybe that was who he really was, maybe he just didn't show it to everyone. Steve did the procedure again, and held up the worm in front of him.

“Look at this then,” he said and stood up and threw it with as much force he could. The worm hit the nearest tree so hard that it changed direction again and hit Steve in his stomach. Bucky snorted and began to shriek with laughter. He almost fell down from the rock while his body shook from trying not to laugh too loudly.

After some minutes they'd calmed down, still panting from the laughing. For a while they just sat there silently and grinned while taking care of the worms.

“What were you going to ask me yesterday?” Steve suddenly asked Bucky while reaching for another worm. Bucky reached for it the same time and accidentally brushed his fingers against Steve's hand. They both froze and stared at their hands but Bucky quickly moved away his hand and took another slug. Steve felt his cheeks grow warm as he waited for Bucky to answer.

“I don't know, really, I suppose that I just wanted to thank you properly.” Bucky said with a simple tone in his voice. Steve nodded.

“Well, you're welcome,” Steve said and hesitated for a second. “You know, you're much nicer in person, than what you're in public.” Bucky stopped with what he was doing for a moment and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yeah, and I'd like to keep it that way..” He said, without any further explanation. Steve was quiet for a moment.

“Does that mean that I can be a total git to you tomorrow but we'd still be friends during detention?” Steve asked curiously. Bucky chuckled.

“Yeah, if that means that I can be a total git to you too.” He said with a smirk and threw a worm at Steve.

“Sure thing, Barnes.” He grinned at him and threw away the worm into the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for both Peeves and Hagrid. I can't write accents, nor can I write ghost characters.


	3. Shut up, Stark. I'm late for detention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I "accidentally" tried to speed up their relationship a bit, since I'm really looking forward to write the fluffy parts, but I'm still not there yet! And I might have been using the word "mucus" too much.. Enjoy!

Bucky sat in the _Charms_ classroom, staring blankly at the wall while he waited for the lesson to end. For the first time in years he _wanted_ to have detention, just so he could see Steve again. He would see him during dinner in the Great Hall too after that, but for some reason he wanted to see Steve _now. But why?_ Bucky asked himself, was that really how it worked with friends? That you'd rather skip a lesson or two just to see them when you would see them later that day anyway? Bucky

At that moment professor Flitwick told them that the lesson was over and that they should gather their stuff to leave. Bucky was one of the first people out of the classroom, not that he actually would meet Steve but if there was a chance he would more than gladly take it. The students filled the corridors and voices grew louder as they walked up to their dorms to get their equipment for the next lesson. Bucky searched after Steve in the crowd but couldn't find him. _Why am I even looking for him? We're not supposed to hang out in public anyway._ He focused on getting himself through the crowd and up to the dorms. Right then he felt someone tap him on his shoulder, Bucky turned around and saw Steve smile at him.

“Get out of the way, Jerk. I need to get through.” He said with a grin and discretely brushed his hand against Bucky's before he disappeared in the crowd again.

 

“Everyone take a seat.” The professor said as Bucky already sat in the _Potions_ classroom with his cauldron and potions-book open, ready to start.

“You're going to brew a potion of your own choice, and use the Flobberworm mucus to thicken it. Everything that you need to know about how to use the mucus of a Flobberworm is on page 124, so get started.”

Bucky wanted to say something about the fact that _he and Steve_ had done the hard work for the other students, but stayed silent as he turned over the pages to page 124. He sighed as he read through all the instructions of how to use the liquid, and he wasn't concentrated at all. For some reason he couldn't wait for his detention to begin. He didn't know why, since detentions weren't supposed to be looked forward to. But he would meet Steve again and- Bucky realized that he'd been reading the same line in the book five times now. He looked over at Tony and saw him already heating up his cauldron.

Bucky decided to go for an easy potion and began to gather all the stuff he needed. He followed the instructions in his book while glancing constantly at Pepper who seemed to already be done. He then saw Tony look over at her while struggling with his own potion. She noticed him and giggled while walking over to him and helped him out. Or rather _did the work for him._ Tony leaned against the wall and looked over at Bucky.

“How's it going Buck?” he asked with a smirk.

“Great.. Ugh.” Bucky opened the jar filled with the mucus and wrinkled his nose.

“It's too bad you don't have a girlfriend to do it all for you.” He said and Pepper raised an eyebrow.

Bucky faked a laugh and continued with his potion. _A girlfriend._ Bucky almost wanted to laugh at himself, he was in fifth year now and still didn't date anyone. He was great at flirting, and he knew that a lot of girls had a crush on him but he couldn't care less. And for some reason he felt like girls weren't his thing. And every time he tried to imagine himself with a girl an image of Steve popped up and Bucky always felt like he wanted to throw up. He didn't like Steve that way. _We're just friends._

“Bucky?” Tony said with a questioning voice.

Suddenly Bucky realized that he'd dropped way to much mucus in his potion, and a lot of it was on the table instead of inside the cauldron.

“Sorry, a bit unfocused.” He said and began to clean up the mess.

 

Steve sat in the Great Hall with Bruce. They were eating dinner and Steve had to explain to Bruce that he couldn't study with him that day, or any other day that week. Steve had managed to not try and think so much about the upcoming detention and about what they would have to do this time, even though he suspected that Hagrid would have them collect Flobberworm mucus again. But what he really looked forward to was seeing Bucky again.

He didn't know why seeing Bucky and meeting him constantly suddenly seemed so important for him but in some way it just did. Steve wanted to hear Bucky laugh again, see the tiny wrinkles appear next to his eyes when he smiled. He wanted to just feel Bucky's hand against his again, even if it had happened accidentally that time. Steve had tried to not feel like _this_ about anyone, _especially Bucky_. But he knew that this wasn't love, they were just friends and just because Bucky showed Steve a side of him that seemed so _perfect,_ Steve knew that they were _just friends._

 _How could this even be love?_ Why would Steve ever just come to think of loving another guy? Steve was confused, more or less.

Steve glanced up and tried to find Bucky in the crowd of people who were either talking, laughing or eating. He managed to find him sitting at the Gryffindor table, glaring at Pepper and Tony who laughed and smiled towards each other. And just then Bucky looked up to see what Steve was doing and found Steve staring right back at him. Steve raised an eyebrow as to ask " _How's it going?_ " Bucky motioned with his eyes towards the two lovebirds next to him and looked back at Steve with a disgusted face. Steve felt like laughing, but knew that he was being watched by the other people around his table.

"Steve? doesn't your detention start soon?" Bruce asked and saw some people finishing their plates and leaving for the common rooms. Steve realized that his detention were to begin in ten minutes, so he gave a final glance back at Bucky and then left.

 

Bucky saw Steve leave and realized that the detention would begin in a few minutes. He glanced back at Tony and Pepper who both had been following the silent conversation that had been going on between Bucky and Steve.

“Did you see that Pepper? That's some quality relationship-material you've got right there!” Tony said.

“Oh Shut up, Stark. I'm late for detention.” Bucky said and left.

He discretely followed Steve out of the castle. They met at the cabin and waited for Hagrid to arrive.

"Hi." Steve said, trying to start a conversation.

"Hey." Bucky answered and flashed a smile. They saw Hagrid come out of his cabin with the same big barrel that he'd bought the other day.

"I suppose we're doing it again then." Steve said and began to prepare himself for breathing through his mouth for the rest of the hour. Bucky chuckled and followed Hagrid towards the front of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid placed the barrel in between the two giant stones, just as before and turned around to look at them.

"Alrighty then, no fooling around, and I would appreciate it if you would keep the trees clean from Flobberworms this time." Hagrid said and left them to their own.

“I'm blaming that one on you,” Bucky said as he sat down on one of the rocks and rolled his sleeves up. Steve sat down on the opposite rock and did the same.

"Just because of the spectacular throwing I did yesterday?" Steve said. Bucky grinned and noticed the trees who still had traces of Flobberworm on them.

"We did actually make _a bit_ of a mess." Steve said and began to wonder if throwing Flobberworms around in the forest was a good idea.

Bucky laughed and picked up one of the worms. He let out a sound of disgust and quickly did as Hagrid had showed them the day before.

"If _this_ is what I'm going to do every day this week just to spend time with you then I'm not even sure it's worth it." Bucky said jokingly and held up another worm. He then realized that that whole sentence had come out wrong.

"Erm, I mean.. Detention, with you." Bucky stuttered, he almost never stuttered, so why was he all of a sudden acting so nervous?

Steve chuckled.

"I would like to see you more often, you know, without having to call you an asshat as fast as I see you." Steve mumbled and threw away the worm.

Bucky took some time to answer, since he wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

They continued in silence, filling up jar after jar with green, thick mucus. After a few minutes Bucky cleared his throat.

"We could, though." He began. "We could hang out after this, just spend time together. _Like friends._ " Bucky didn't know why he felt the need to emphasize the word _Friends_ , maybe he just needed to convince himself that they were nothing more than just that. _Friends._

"I would like that," Steve answered after a moment of consideration. "and I think that I've found the right place."

 


	4. Shut up, Stark. I was studying.

There was an unused tunnel on the third floor. No one would see them there, since the tunnel hadn't been used for at least ten years and almost none of the students knew of its existence. Steve had _accidentally_ read about it when he once had heard Loki talk about it to the other Slytherins. Steve did a bit of research with some help from Natasha and told himself to remember the hidden passage for the future.

Bucky's eyes lit up and he looked at Steve.

“Where?” He asked and glanced over his shoulder to see if someone was there, even though he knew no one would be listening.

“The One-Eyed Witch passage, I can show you, if you want to, of course.” Steve added, unsure if Bucky actually wanted to do this or not.

“The 'One-Eyed Witch passage?'” He repeated.

“If you want to.” Steve added again.

“I mean, it would really be nice to meet you more often, without, as you said, having to call you an asshat as fast as I see you.” Bucky said.

Steve gave Bucky a smile and the rest of the detention passed in what felt like just a few minutes.

 

Hagrid came to check on them once, and when he saw that the trees were Flobberworm-free and the barrel almost empty, he decided to let them go twenty minutes earlier. They both hurried towards the castle and as fast as they came inside the warm building they met a crowd of Slytherins.

Suddenly Bucky stiffened and cleared his throat loudly enough for Steve to get the hang of it.

“Get out of my way, Rogers!” Bucky said and pushed himself past Steve.

“Jerk.” Steve muttered under his breath and waited for Bucky to disappear behind the corner until he could follow him.

Steve catched up with Bucky and began to walk with him up to the third floor.

“Sorry.” Bucky said and sighed.

“No worries, but why?” Steve asked as they entered a dark corridor.

Bucky thought for a moment, not wanting to tell Steve the real reason.

“Why what?” Bucky asked and tried to play dumb.

“Why do we have to put up a fight?”

“We've been fighting for almost five years and suddenly we act like we all of a sudden are best friends? It would make people ask questions sooner or later.”

Steve felt his cheeks turn a darker shade of red and felt relieved that Bucky couldn't notice it in the dark.

“Right.” Steve said and stopped in front of a statue of a hunchbacked witch.

“I think this is the right way” He said and took out his wand.

“ _Dissendium.”_ Steve said, and the hump on the witch's statue opened to reveal a staircase.

“Lady's first.” Bucky teased.

“Very funny.” Steve muttered and climbed in.

He was hit by a soggy smell mixed with a damp and stale stench. The walls were made out of stone, but after a while of walking, wooden planks began to replace the stone steps of the stair. He stopped in front of a giant spiderweb, a bit frightened of the thought that Hagrid's spiders could be hiding in there.

Bucky made his way down towards Steve and stopped next to him.

"Are you scared of a spiderweb, Rogers?" He said and pushed the spiderweb aside.

Steve rolled his eyes and followed Bucky further down.

“I read about this place in the library, it was used to sneak supplies from Hogsmeade on many occasions.” Steve said.

“So what you are saying is that this passage is leading to Hogsmeade, and you, Steve Rogers of all people, actually offered to _sneak out of the castle?”_ Bucky said.

“Don't say it like that.” Steve said, he felt like he was breaking all of Hogwarts rules just by doing this.

“C'mon Rogers, relax.” Bucky said and graced his fingers along Steve's hand before taking it in his own. And for once, Steve didn't blush, and nor did Bucky. They were comfortable around each other when they were alone, which both of them saw as an improvement.

“Have you never been sneaking out of the castle before?” Bucky asked.

“Of course not!” Steve protested.

“Why am I not surprised?” Bucky chuckled.

“Ha ha.” Steve said sarcastically.

“ _Oh god my mom would have killed me for this.”_ Steve suddenly said.

“Your mom?” Bucky said surprised, who never would have thought that they would talk about Steve's _mom._ Steve nodded.

“What's her name?” He asked, as he barely knew anything about his own mother.

“Sarah.” Steve answered, happy that they had something to talk about. They kept walking on the plain ground. The stairs had disappeared but they still didn't see what they were walking _towards._

“.. How is she?”

“How she is? She's.. like a mom.” Steve said, confused. Suddenly he remembered a rumour from his third year at Hogwarts, a rumour about Bucky's mom and that he'd never met her.

“Wait, was it true?” Steve asked.

“Was what true?”

“That you've never met your mom?”

It took a while for Bucky to answer.

“Yeah, yes. She left us a few months after I was born, but I rarely think about her, so don't worry.” He said when he saw Steve's concerning face.

“I'm.. so sorry.” Steve said as he couldn't help but pity Bucky. He squeezed Bucky's hand and felt like hugging him. Everything was dark around them, a musty smell covered the walls but it eventually faded away as they walked. They stopped talking for a while, and the only thing that could be heard were their footsteps on the ground.

 _“Lumos.”_ Steve said while holding out his wand, making it easier for them to see where they were going.

After walking through that whole passage, _which was a lot of walking,_ they began to hear voices and laughter. They kept walking until they stood in front of a wooden door. Bucky opened it and immediately heard the chime of a tinkling bell from above. They had stepped into the Honeydukes cellar.

The cellar of the shop was full of wooden boxes and crates, the floor had a thick layer of dust and a large wooden staircase leading up to the main shop. The customers' steps could be heard from the ceiling and the musty smell had disappeared. Instead a scent of roasted almonds and candy-floss entered the room.

“Ah, finally.” Bucky said and sat down against one of the barrels.

“You do know that we'll get into some serious trouble for this, right?” Steve said.

“Steve. _Relax.”_ Bucky answered and dragged Steve down next to him on the floor. Steve was about to open his mouth to say something, but realized that he'd never heard Bucky call Steve his real name before. Steve just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, it took a while for Bucky to get the hang of it.

“Oh, or maybe you prefer to be called _Rogers,_ then?” Bucky said as Steve laughed.

“No, I prefer Steve, thank you.” He said.

“Tell me more about your family.” Bucky said, as he wanted to know as much about Steve as he could, and starting with his family seemed like a good idea. So Steve told him everything, about his dad, his mother, his siblings, his childhood, old friends, _everything._

 

Later that evening Bucky walked into the Gryffindor common room.

“How was your date?” Tony asked with a smug grin.

“My _detention_ was fine.” Bucky made sure that he emphasized the word detention.

“I thought it only was for an hour, not three?” Pepper asked innocently, even if she knew where this was going.

“Yeah, I.. studied for a while in the library.” He said as he sat down next to them on the couch.

“Studied? Hah!” Tony laughed. “Studied Steve's-” Tony began but got interrupted by Pepper as she nudged his shoulder.

“Shut up, Stark. I was studying.” Bucky said and reminded himself to be more discreet if he would be sneaking out again, or rather, _when_ he would be sneaking out again.


	5. Shut up, Stark. We're just friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first of all: I'm extremely sorry for not updating for almost a month.  
> Second of all, I've been watching tons of British tv-shows during this month, so if Steve and Bucky suddenly begins to act like two proper ladies, you can blame Downton Abbey.  
> And lastly, I do know that they don't have autumn breaks at Hogwarts, but if you could just ignore that small smaall detail, that would be great!

They kept meeting in the cellar after the detentions for the rest of the week, they even told their friends that they had detention during the weekend too just so they could meet again. They got to know each other, they learnt new things about each other and anyone who would have seen them would have thought that they were best friends, which they in fact were.

But a few days passed, and suddenly there was no detention for Steve or Bucky to attend, which also meant that they didn't have a valid reason to meet again.  They kept meeting occasionally during dinner in the Great Hall or during lessons that both the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors shared, but they never talked, unless if they were faking a fight.  But after seeing each other one too many times on the Tuesday, Bucky tried to talk to Steve.

“Hey Rogers!” Bucky shouted.

“What, Barnes? Leave me alone.” Steve said, trying to hide the happy tone in his voice. Bruce stood next to him, wondering if he just should leave or try to support Steve. He decided to leave, which also meant leaving them completely alone in the corridor, as everyone else already had left. Bucky walked towards Steve and his stern face expression disappeared.

“Can I meet you in the cellar after dinner?” He asked with a soft voice and gave him a smile.

“Of course, jerk, I'll meet you then alright?” Steve answered as he felt his own smile grow wider.

And so it went on for a while, they grew closer and closer, and after a few weeks they began to meet occasionally at the same time in the cellar. Their friends were obviously suspicious, and Bucky was sure that Tony already knew, but no one of them really cared.

They had put a spell on the cellar, so the employees at _Honeydukes_ would't be able to see Steve or Bucky, nor would they be able to see the decorations, the desk and the couch that they'd managed to put in the corner. Every time they met in the cellar they always had something new to talk about or something to do, and when they didn't, they just enjoyed being alone with each other.

Eventually, the autumn break arrived and Steve didn't hesitate at all to invite Bucky over to his family. He felt like it was the right thing to do, since Bucky already knew so much about Steve's family. Bucky had gladly said yes, and they even sat in the same coupé on the Hogwarts express on the way home. The week was filled with laughter and small talk, they even dressed up for Halloween (even if Bucky hated the thought of just dressing up as _anything._ )

The autumn went on and they came back to Hogwarts, still putting up fake fights with each other. But now it was different, they did it only for the laughs, not to fool the other students. (Even though they probably already knew) They'd put up with all sorts of fights, they sabotaged each others potions and got both sent to the hospital wing, even if they both laughed all the way there, they tried to hex each other during the _Defence against the Dark Arts_ lesson, they even broke a few rules, even if Steve refused to admit it. They even got detention a few times more for fooling around during the lessons.

They were really best friends now, both of them didn't feel like anything less than that, but they both still felt like there was something _more_ to it. Months had passed since their first detention together, and the odd feelings they had had towards each other were still there. Bucky had never felt like he would _like_ someone as much as to call it love. But he was sure that whatever he felt right now was more than _just friends_. Every evening that they spent with each other in the cellar was always an evening filled with teasing and joking, Bucky had even poorly attempted to flirt, but Steve had just thought that it was another joke and had laughed it off.

 

*** * ***

 

They were sitting in the cellar, studying and doing their assignments together. They had to write a three pages long essay about gnomes due to the next _History of Magic_ lecture, and neither of them could concentrate. Steve didn't feel like writing when Bucky was with him, since there was so many things he could do that didn't bore him to death. Steve opened his mouth to say something when Bucky suddenly groaned:

“Steevee,” He looked up from his papers and looked at Steve. He noticed the way his fringe swept lightly across his head and how it had changed during the year, how his face had grown more mature and how tall he suddenly was, sitting in front of him. How his Hufflepuff-tie didn't hang loosely around his neck anymore, instead it was tied in a tight knot with his white shirt underneath fitting perfectly on his chest. Bucky lowered his gaze, just to be met by Steve's lips that curled into a smile as he saw Bucky's eyes lingering on his lips, _his lips._

“ _Yes, Bucky?”_

Bucky felt something tight build up in his chest, something that made it difficult to breathe and to just simply look away from Steve. He looked up and was met by Steve's stunning eyes, The corners of Bucky's own lips quirked up in a smile as Steve raised one of his eyebrows to define his question.

“I am _incredibly_ bored.”

“Big surprise.” Steve answered and dipped his quill in the bottle of ink and added another sentence to his paper.

The room was filled with silence again and Bucky tried to say something more, and suddenly he got an idea.

“You know what? I have the _hugest_ crush on you.” He said tiresomely, waiting for Steve's response.

Even though Steve felt flustered and even _blushed,_ he simply answered with:

“I'm sure you do.”

Bucky sighed and stood up from his chair and walked over to Steve.

“It's sad isn't it? How that assignment manages to get more attention from you than _I get.”_ Bucky said playfully and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I'm truly sorry _._ ” Steve said, chuckling as he looked up at his best friend, he had to admit that he really enjoyed this.

“Really though, that assignment will take days to finish, might as well give up now.”

“I suppose.” Steve answered and laid down his quill next to the paper.

He stood up in front of Bucky and leaned against the wooden desk.

“Has the thought ever occurred to you that one of the employees at _Honeydukes_ might come in here and hear us?” Steve asked, wondering if the spell they had put on the cellar made it _completely_ impossible to notice them.

“And what exactly would they hear?” Bucky grinned.

Steve's face turned a darker shade of red and he felt the blood rush underneath his skin.

“ _I didn't mean-_ ”

“I'm just joking.” Bucky laughed. “And no, the thought had never occurred to me.”

“Fine then, tomorrow we'll meet at the library.” Steve said with a determined voice.

“Six o'clock?”

“Six o'clock.”

Bucky walked over to the desk and began to gather his things.

“I promised Tony to be back before nine.” He said and cleared his throat.

“Right, I'll stay for a while.” Steve said, glaring at his still unfinished assignment.

“Don't do anything stupid until I get back.” Bucky said and began to walk towards the exit.

“How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you.” Steve answered and gave him a smile.

Bucky let out a sound that sounded like a mix between laughter and a sigh.

“You're a punk.” he finally said and walked back towards Steve and wrapped his arms around him. For a moment they stood face-to-face, chest to chest. Steve pushed his own body closer to Bucky's and buried his head in his neck. Bucky wasn't used to be hugging someone like that, they had hugged before, but this time it was different. After a moment he let go of him, grinning like an idiot.

“Jerk. Be careful.” Steve said as Bucky walked away with a smile on his lips.

 

When Bucky entered the Gryffindor common room he immediately began to look for Tony, but only managed to find Pepper. He asked her where Tony was, but she just answered with a shrug. He walked up to the dormitories and found him sitting on his bed, writing the same assignment that Bucky had been working on an hour ago.

“How many pages have you written?” Bucky asked and leaned against the doorframe.

“Two and _a half.”_ Tony said with a superior tone in his voice. “You?”

“One.” Bucky muttered and walked over to Tony.

“Hah, sometimes I wonder if the sorting hat should've put me in Ravenclaw.” Tony said and looked proud over himself.

“How's Steve?” He then asked with a smirk.

“Perfectly fine.” Bucky answered, realizing that he just had admitted that he'd been seeing Steve. He did not liking where this was going.

“Ah, he's just _perfect,_ isn't he?”

“What do you mean?” Bucky tried to sound offended but the small trace of a smile on the corners of his lips gave him away.

“I'm _sure_ you're spending all your time with him staring at his _luscious lips_ and _deep eyes._ ” Tony said with a dreamy voice.

Bucky almost began to laugh because what Tony said wasn't exactly a _lie,_ but he decided to keep quiet about that.

“Shut up, Stark. We're just friends.” Bucky said, but he still didn't know if he was saying that just to convince himself or to convince Tony.

Tony muttered something about “ _just friends”_ and returned his attention to the assignment.

 

The next day Tony seemed especially nice to Bucky, he followed him everywhere and even kept himself from teasing Bucky when he saw the silent conversation that went on between him and Steve across the Great Hall. Even though Bucky thought that Tony just wanted to be friendly, he soon realized that it was because Tony was _curious._ Apparently Tony had been following the raising of eyebrows, the small nods and the extremely overdue accusations that had been going on between Steve and Bucky that day. While he had been walking with Bucky to the _Transfiguration_ class he suddenly asked “When will you see Steve again?”

Bucky had for a second been looking horrified.

“I'm not _seeing_ Steve, Tony.”

“Yeah, right.” Tony didn't believe that for a second. “You'll meet this afternoon at the library, won't you?”

“How did you kno-” Bucky stopped mid-sentence. “I mean, how did you know I was going to study in the library this evening?”

“Isn't that excuse getting a bit old now?” Tony asked as they walked up the staircase.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Bucky said and walked into the classroom, pleased to know that the conversation was finished.


	6. Shut up, Stark. We were just talking.

Even though Bucky wanted to deny it, he _had_ to go to the library to finish his assignment, even though he knew that Tony would follow him. _Besides,_ he thought, _Tony might do the assignment for me._

So when both Bucky and Tony sat in the library while Steve stepped in, Bucky had tried to ignore the quiet comment from Tony (“ _Oh what a surprise!”)_ and simply smiled at Steve. For a moment, Steve looked quite worried and didn't understand what was going on, but when he saw the apologetic look from Bucky he decided to sit down in front of them.

“What a _coincidence_ Bucky, don't you think?” Tony said, unable to hide the huge grin that now covered his face. Bucky kept ignoring him.

“Hello Rogers, Tony here was so.. _excited.._ to meet you, he simply couldn't wait anymore so I.. _offered.._ him to come down here to the library, _since you always seem to spend all your time down here.”_

Steve got the hint and returned the smile.

“Well, nice to finally meet you then, Tony.”

Tony giggled and nudged Bucky with his elbow.

“I didn't know you two were friends! I am completely blown!” Tony said with such a high-pitched tone that Bucky felt like stepping on his foot under the table.

They were all silent for a moment, a bit embarrassed. Steve finally cleared his throat.

“Done with your assignment yet, Buck... Barnes?” He quickly stopped himself from saying Bucky's real name.

“One page left.” He muttered as he glared at his unfinished assignment next to Tony's finished.

“You?” Bucky asked.

“Almost finished.”

Bucky tried to read one of the paragraphs upside-down from Steve's paper, he then leaned over the table and pointed at one of the sentences with his finger.

“You do know that the gnomes only can be found in Europe and _North_ america, right?”

Steve looked up questioningly at him. Bucky smirked and walked around the table, standing bent over Steve to see the paper better. Steve could feel Bucky's warm chest against his back and tried to deny the fact that he was blushing. He could see a grinning Tony out of the corner of his eye.

“There, ' _the gnomes can be found in northern Europe and South america.'_ Change _South america_ to _North america.”_ Bucky murmured into Steve's ear, resting his hand on the table in front of him. Steve nodded and ignored the prickling feeling in his stomach. He couldn't explain what he'd just felt, but a smile slowly spread on his lips.

“Right, thanks.” Steve said, unable to hide his flustered cheeks.

They both looked up at Tony who sat with his head bent down over his assignment, pretending that what he just saw wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

 

The clock turned seven, and since both Bucky and Steve were finished with their assignments, they decided to leave. Only, there was a small problem. Tony wouldn't leave them alone, and Bucky knew out of experience that if Tony was stubborn about something he simply wouldn't let it go. Steve didn't even try to discretely sneak into the Honeydukes cellar, since he knew it would be in vain. He instead rose from his chair and gathered his things.

"Good night, then." He said, mostly towards Bucky.

"Yeah, see you later." Bucky answered, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

Tony just nodded and began to walk out of the library. Before Bucky could catch up with Tony Steve grabbed his wrist and pulled Bucky towards himself. Bucky's eyes widened. Steve leaned in closer to him.

"I'll meet you in the cellar later, alright? Take this." He quickly whispered and handed Bucky a warm galleon hidden by their robes.

Bucky gave him a quick nod and then hurried after Tony. Steve had to stifle a laugh when he heard their conversation echo in the corridor.

“ _Did he give you a love letter too?”_

“ _Shut up, Stark. We were just talking.”_

 

When Tony finally left Bucky alone he sat on his bed, studying the coin. He knew instantly what it was when he'd felt the heat coming from it and by the unnatural numbers on the edge of it. If you compared the coin to a normal galleon, they would almost look identical, but Bucky who had spent the last few days studying about goblins and therefore also galleons, he knew that the numbers on the edge of this coin meant something else. He knew the story about Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army, about the coins they used for announcing the time and date for the new meetings without ever having to talk about it out loud. _He's a freaking genius,_ Bucky thought for himself, he didn't know when or how Steve had fixed the coins but he knew now that it would be much easier to meet him without discussing it in front of Tony.

At first Bucky had been confused about when he was going to meet Steve, since “later” could mean in one hour or tomorrow. So he'd looked at the coin (that said 11pm) and immediately gotten that indescribable feeling in his stomach that only Steve could cause.

 

Steve waited anxiously in front of the statue of the One-Eyed Witch and began to regret his decisions even more as more time went by. _A Hufflepuff sneaking out in the middle of the night, what would Bruce say?_ He looked around one last time before he whispered “ _Dissendium.”_ and entered the passage to hide behind its walls.

A minute or so later he heard footsteps and began to sweat nervously. _What if it's not Bucky? What if it's a professor? Or Peeves?_ Steve's thoughts grew more and more creative and horrifying as the footsteps could be heard clearer and clearer.

“Steve?” Bucky's gentle voice could be heard from outside of the passage.

Steve let out a breath of relief and opened the hump of the statue. Bucky climbed in and had to take a while to get his eyes used to the darkness surrounding them.

“ _Lumos.”_ said both of them as the tips of their wands lit up with an illuminating light.

They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other. Then Bucky couldn't stand it anymore and gave Steve a hug. He breathed in the familiar scent of Steve and suddenly forgot why he was hugging him. _It doesn't matter, though._

“ _Bucky._ We saw each other four hours ago, why the sudden hug?”

Bucky didn't know what to answer, at first he thought that Steve was offended, but he could then hear the surprised tone in his voice and felt Steve smiling against his shoulder. He let go of Steve and felt stupid for a second. He dragged his fingers through his hair before answering.

“I don't know, suppose I just missed you.”

That sentence only made Steve smile even more. They both sat down on the steps of the staircase, since they didn't want to be in the cellar twenty minutes away from the school in the middle of the night.

“How did you manage to fix the coins?” Bucky asked, still a bit stunned.

“It's the _Protean_ charm, found it when researching about the goblins.”

Bucky winced for a second.

“ _Protean?_ That's- that's N.E.W.T. level!” Bucky said, he would never have guessed that Steve of all people would manage such an advanced spell.

“Suppose I'm a bit better at spells than writing the main assignments.” Steve chuckled and began to fiddle with the hem of his shirt. He wasn't used to getting so much appreciation.

“ _A bit?_ Steve..” Bucky, for once, didn't know what to say.

“Alright, alright, I get it.” Steve laughed.

“It's summer break soon, and I'm quite sure that I won't be able to even get an _Acceptable_ on the O.W.L. in Transfiguration. I thought.. that maybe you could help me a bit?” Bucky hesitated, maybe Steve would get bored with him… Maybe he would tell the Hufflepuff's what an awful wizard Bucky was. _But still, the Steve I know wouldn't even think bad of a Flobberworm!_

“Gladly, when do you want to start?” 

“How about now?” 

 

They sat in the passageway for hours, Steve had suggested that they would try something easy, like the _Orchideus_ spell. He had gently waved his wand in a circle and a bunch of flowers had appeared from the tip of the wand. He then gave the small bouquet to Bucky who rolled his eyes. “ _Classical.”_ Bucky tried, but instead of flowers appearing there were instead to a beginning some withered leaves. After a few tries there were real flowers, some of them wilted, some of them vivid and pompous. They continued with a few other spells until they figured that the clock probably was past two in the morning. 

A fter a while they were both too tired to concentrate on the spells.

“ _Buck,_ we should leave.” Steve said as he leaned against Bucky's shoulder. 

“Alright, yeah I suppose.” He said drowsily. He yawned and glanced at Steve who looked like he might fall asleep right there on the spot. Bucky slowly stood up and leaned against the wall.

“C'mon, get up.” He said and took a grip of Steve's hand and pulled him up. They began to walk up the stairs with their wand's lights guiding them. When they had reached the door Bucky realized that Steve still hadn't let go of him. Bucky looked down at their hands and a smile spread on his lips, and for once, he was actually sure why. He had been denying his feelings for Steve during a long time, but he was sure now. 

 

They stopped at the staircase that led up to the Gryffindor tower, it was always here their ways parted, since the Hufflepuff dorm was down by the kitchens. Steve let go of Bucky's hand and looked up at him to say good night.

“See you tomorrow, then.” He said in a low voice, afraid that someone might hear them.

Bucky was quiet for a moment, since he didn't feel like leaving Steve just yet.

“Good night, Steve.” They both looked at each other in silence for a while. Steve was just about to turn away when Bucky took a hold of Steve's hand again and tugged him closer to himself, just as Steve had done in the library. Steve's eyes went wide for a second as Bucky stared at him in confusion. He was suddenly conscious about the fact that no one could see or hear them, they could barely even see each other in the darkness around them. Bucky's breath hitched.

“I'm- Sorry, don't know wh-” Bucky began but got interrupted by Steve leaning forward and gently brushing his lips against Bucky's. Their eyes met for a moment, before Bucky closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss with a sigh. Steve parted his mouth slightly in response. Bucky let go of Steve's wrist and placed his own hand on his waist to press Steve even closer to him. He felt the heat from Steve's lips on his own and could barely believe that this was happening. Steve slid his hand up Bucky's back to pull him closer. The sound of Bucky's heartbeat roared in his ears as he deepened the kiss, threading his other hand into the hair at the nape of Steve's neck. Bucky pulled away for a second and gasped, Steve's eyes were still lingering at his lips. The only things that could be heard were the heavy breathings coming from both of them.

“Buck-”

Bucky didn't listen, instead he pressed his lips softly against Steve's again. He had wanted to do this for so long. Steve drew back enough warm air to slip between them and was suddenly aware of how his blood raced under his skin. Bucky could feel Steve's mouth turn into a smile as he kept kissing him. His hand came up to cup Steve's cheek, his thumb grazed the other boy's warm cheek as he pulled away once again. They stood there, completely still for a minute while the tip of Bucky's thumb traveled along Steve's grinning lips.

“You're a complete jerk.” Steve said, unable to stop smiling.

Bucky gave him a quick, gentle kiss again before he began to walk towards the staircase.

“Good night, punk.”


	7. Calm down, Stark.

Rays of sunshine slipped through the partially closed curtains of Steve's sleeping dorm. The blinding light only reminded Steve of the fact the summer break was coming soon, which also meant that the O.W.L.S were coming. He wasn't worried, in fact; he didn't think that the tests would be difficult at all, but he was quite sure that everyone else would be stressed out.

His hair was messier than usual, he rubbed his eyes and yawned one last time before he got out of bed. He pulled away the bedsheets and realized that everyone else still were asleep. He'd woke up earlier than usual. In fact, he had been waking up a few times during the night, but not because of nightmares, not because he wasn't tired, but because of what had happened the night before. His head felt dizzy just by thinking of it. But still, he smiled for himself as he thought about what had happened.

 

Bucky coughed as he saw Steve across the Great Hall walking up to the Hufflepuff table together with Bruce. His heart leaped as he tried to focus on his breakfast.

“How's Steve?” Tony asked as he noticed Bucky's flushed cheeks.

“What?” Bucky cleared his throat.

“Steve, tall, blonde hair, Hufflepuff, really-” Tony began but Bucky shut him up with a glance.

“I know perfectly well who Steve is, Tony.” he sneered.

Tony shrugged and returned his attention to his food. Bucky noticed that the coin in his pocket suddenly felt warmer than usual. He tried to sneak a look at it while Tony wasn't watching. The time had been changed to 8 o'clock later that day, a tingling feeling spread through his body as he put down the coin again.

 

The _Transfiguration_ class was unbearable, none of them could concentrate and they both had to force their own eyes to not look at anything – _anyone –_ else but the professor standing in front of them. Even though all that, Bucky couldn't help but glance at Steve a few times, once Steve had catched him staring and they both had turned their attention towards the teacher with rosy cheeks. The memory of the day before made it hard to focus, even if it just was a simple kiss. Steve had told himself many times that day that the kiss was just, as said, _a simple kiss,_ they were tired and barely knew what they were doing, Bucky would probably never kiss him again, they were just really careless that evening.

Bucky didn't regret it, he just hadn't been expecting it to actually happen. But when he'd kissed Steve back he knew that maybe he'd been wanting that to happen for a longer time than he'd like to admit. Normally he would've jumped around the castle, cheering and telling everyone that he'd just kissed _Steve freaking Rogers_ , but he couldn't tell anyone, he didn't _want_  to tell anyone.

 

He didn't even know why they were pretending to hate each other in public, it wasn't like they actually had a reason. Yeah, it was fun to pretend at first, just for the laughs later, but truth be told, Bucky didn't think he'd actually manage to pretend anymore without “accidentally” kissing Steve again. Not like they still were fooling anyone.

 

Steve was already sitting in the cellar when Bucky entered. He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. The frown on his face disappeared when Bucky cleared his throat.

“Hi.” Steve said and moved a bit to the right, so that Bucky could sit down next to him. Bucky didn't answer.

“I want to stop pretending.” Bucky said instead, and looked down at Steve. Steve looked up at Bucky with a blank face, until he knew what Bucky meant.

“Pretending as in-” Steve started but got interrupted.

“Pretending as in I want to stop pretending that I hate you in public when all I want to do is to kiss you after what happened last night.” His tongue felt thick in his mouth and he stuttered on a few words, but if he didn't say it now then he'd probably never get another moment to say it otherwise. Everything was quiet, and Bucky felt his heart hammer against his ribcage and wondered if Steve could hear it.

Steve couldn't believe what he'd just heard, obviously he wanted to stop pretending, but he had been so sure that Bucky thought that the kiss was a mistake. The corner of his mouth twitched as if he was going to say something, but he just stared at Bucky. After a few seconds, that felt like hours, Steve said “Of course we can stop pretending, I thought that you just didn't like to be seen as the 'best friend of that Hufflepuff who used to be shorter than the first years while in his third.'” Bucky chuckled at that, it was true though. Steve used to get teased about his length in third year, but during the summer break he'd almost grown taller than Bucky. Steve got to his feet and walked closer to Bucky.

“You seem bothered by it, you should've told me earlier you know.” He said. “And maybe we could start doing this in public then.” Steve continued and gently grabbed Bucky's hand, intertwining their fingers as he moved closer. Steve scanned Bucky's face, searching for any sign of regret, but couldn't find any.

“And this.” Bucky murmured as he used his other hand to rest it on Steve's waist and pulled him even closer. Steve's lungs stuttered to a stop, it was different than the night before, since he wasn't prepared for what was going to happen, but this time he was. Bucky's gaze flickered to Steve's lips for a moment, and then quickly returned to his stunning eyes. Steve let go of Bucky's hand and placed his arms on Bucky's shoulder while leaning his head forward until their foreheads touched. Steve's lips parted – they were _so close –_ as he finally let out a breath.

“And this..”

Steve could feel Bucky's breath against his mouth as he leaned in, completely erasing every trace of air left between them. Their lips brushed against each other, and with a little bit of effort, Steve's soft lips were placed completely against Bucky's warm ones. Bucky let out a noise of surprise, low in his throat, and pressed his lips harder against Steve's. Steve kissed him back with all the desperation he'd felt during the past day as Bucky pushed him against the wall. They were pressed together _everywhere_ – chests, hips, legs – like puzzle pieces. Steve gasped against Bucky's mouth and slid his hands down Bucky's arms and gave him a last kiss, long and lingering. They pulled apart after a while, both panting.

“Maybe we shouldn't do all of that in public.” Steve said breathlessly with a grin.

 

“Where have you been?! And don't tell me that you've been writing that damn assignment, I actually took the liberty of checking the library this time, _and you weren't there!_ ” Tony's voice greeted Bucky when he entered the common room. 

“Calm down, I was just.. Hanging out with Steve.” Bucky couldn't help but smile at that, and continued to walk up the stairs toward the sleeping dorm. Tony just gaped at him.

The next morning they both sat at the Gryffindor table, It'd been a bit weird at first, that Steve chose to sit down next to Bucky and Tony, but the tension eventually eased after a while. They were discussing O.W.L.s when Bucky discretely had been touching the tips of Steve's fingers on the table. Steve had suddenly stopped listening about what Tony was talking so enthusiastically about, and stared at Bucky with wide eyes, but Bucky remained still, nodding eagerly at what Tony said. Bucky's touch sent a tingling feeling that spread through Steve's whole body, he impatiently grabbed the goblet with water in front of him and drank out of it to hide his reddened face, almost dropping the goblet on the floor. His cheeks were flushed, as they always seemed to be when Bucky touched him. Steve realized then that Tony had been asking him a question.

“Yeah, I'm totally with you.” He said, and surprisingly enough, Tony nodded and looked at the others, as if to say “At least Steve is agreeing with me on this!”

Steve let out a shuddering breath and looked back at Bucky, whose elegant fingers still were traveling along Steve's, just to see him engaged in a conversation with Pepper.

“So I looked it up, but apparently the wizard who..” Pepper went silent as she looked down at Bucky and Steve's hands. She furrowed her eyebrows, and Steve could swear that the blood under his skin was _boiling_ , but a short moment later she kept talking, like nothing had happened. Steve almost wanted to throw his goblet at Bucky's face when he noticed the smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to end this fic here, I know that it's not a real ending, (it's not an ending at all, tbh) but I feel like I have all of these ideas for other fanfics, but I can't keep concentrating on them when I haven't finished something that I've already started. I had a real ending prepared, but I was hoping that the plot would develop into something more interesting before I ended it.. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for all the comments and kudos! This was my first published fanfic, and it certainly won't be my last! ⭐︎

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that this fanfic had a few grammatical errors, and it's my first ever published fanfic, so I'm trying to make the best of it. Please review though!


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